


in the night you say that you go underwater (you won’t take me, no)

by fiveyaaas



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Angst, Consent Issues, Inspired by Eros and Psyche (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), M/M, Mythology References, because... i was regretting it halfway through, bummer ending!, but i was like “i wanna do something different!”, but it might have another chapter tho, i should have done the soulmate au, it was a mistake, so uh, this is just... the first half of the myth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:20:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27297040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/pseuds/fiveyaaas
Summary: “His curse was a punishment by the gods, doled out by himself as a dutiful soldier.”[written for Kliego week, day 5]
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2
Collections: Kliego Week 2020, The Occult Academy





	in the night you say that you go underwater (you won’t take me, no)

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so I tagged this with consent issues, given the nature of the Eros and Psyche myth itself. Please skip this if that will upset you!!! 
> 
> Also.... I should have gone with the soulmates au, which I realized in hindsight. I have the tendency to write a lot of soulmate aus, though, so I was like, “I wanna try something different!” For that reason (which is, essentially, that I struggled and got emotional about it), it’s not the full myth. If people WANT me to extend this, I absolutely would though!

His curse was a punishment by the gods, doled out by himself as a dutiful soldier. 

Sometimes, though, he felt the punishment had really only hurt himself. 

When Diego had slipped the vial to Klaus’s lips, that would make no mortal fall in love with him, would certainly make every mortal disregard him for the prospect of spending their life with him, he’d accidentally pricked his skin with an arrow. 

This had been a grave mistake on his part, one he wasn’t sure he could yet bring himself to regret, regardless. All he’d done was lean too close to him as he gave him the poison, but it was a love arrow that had pricked his skin. 

As Klaus’s eyes opened in stunned pain, he’d only had to glance at him to fall in love. It couldn’t precisely be called genuine, he knew, given that it was the result of a poison much stronger than anything a mortal would ever possess. Still, as he’d looked upon him, Diego had been too shocked at his own carelessness and Klaus’s beauty. 

He was a soldier, and he was not supposed to feel mercy. He was supposed to follow his orders, and he was not supposed to even complain about them. 

But it had been his mistake that had granted Klaus with this affliction, so he gave him a potion that would make him feel, at the very least, contentment for the rest of his life. Even if nobody would fall in love with him, he would still be happy. Perhaps he could have found it through something other than love, even without his intervention, but Diego could not bear to take that risk. He had cursed him to a life without love, something precious to Diego’s very essence, and the least he could do was ensure that his life would have lost meaning without it. 

Diego watched him from afar in the time that came after. As expected, no mortal fell in love with Klaus. He supposed having a partner was important to him still, though, even if he was content without it, for he sought out an oracle to tell him how he could find love. The oracle explained to him that no  _ mortal  _ would ever love him. As his face had glanced down, crestfallen, Diego had used his own godly powers to make the oracle add that there was a creature in a cave atop a mountain that would fall in love and spend the rest of his life with him as his spouse. 

It didn’t take long at all, after that.

Klaus had explained to his family his fate, and they’d tried all they could to find him somebody but were ultimately unsuccessful. They gave him their blessing, eventually. As Klaus had started to trek up the mountain, seeing it as inevitable, Diego took pity upon him, carrying him the rest of the way up with a gentle wind. 

But he could never know who he was, not if he was to survive, so he told Klaus that he could never look upon his face, that he would just have to trust him. He endrenched him in darkness, feeling guilt each night Klaus confided in him, trusting him without any doubts at all. It was eating him alive, but he did not attempt to explain himself, thinking that Klaus would find him a monster if he did. He’d grown attached to him, his husband, and he couldn’t handle to see the abhorrence he felt to himself reflected across his features. 

And that was fine for them, worked well for them even. 

For a time, at least.

But he’d given Klaus as lovely a life as possible, accommodated him to the best of his abilities, both out of guilt and a desire to make him happy (but he knew, as he’d already ensured him to be happy for the rest of his life anyways, that the former superseded the latter.) Eventually, his family had visited him, tainting the already tainted relationship he shared with Diego. They told him that the only reason a creature like him would take this much care of him would be to ultimately consume him, to deplete him of all of that made him himself. 

And so Klaus grew distrustful of him. 

It was small things at first, questioning him about his allegiances and ties. Diego answered truthfully, but he answered in vague language. It distressed Klaus, who had grown to expect transparency from him. His discontent grew, not comforted at all by any of Diego’s words, despite how much he tried to assure him. 

He started to find ways that he could bring light to the cave while Diego visited. Diego saw him doing so, trying to learn how to bring light to the darkness that sunk upon them each night once Diego arrived. It was with a heavy heart he watched, knowing what fate would befall him the second he knew who he was. But he couldn’t take away that last grasp of free will he had, so he left his curiosity and inventive nature in his hands. 

And, eventually, that meant that he found a way to bring light. 

It was immediately after Klaus saw his face that he knew  _ what _ Diego was,  _ who  _ he was. 

For the first few seconds after they stared at one another, he had hope, but then he was reminded himself of who he was. Of the order he’d been given for the man in front of him to never find love, never find someone that wanted to be with him. That he’d put him in danger simply because of his own mistakes. It was a cruel thing, how fate had put them together. 

“Why couldn’t you have just trusted me?” Diego asked him, still staring at him. But he knew why. He understood it even. He hadn’t given him anything to go on, and he’d expected him to just trust him. 

At the very least, he knew that Klaus would be fine without him if he left. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!!


End file.
